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I've mentioned I hate the St. Louis Post Dispatch's website, right? Okay, well there's more I hate.
I hate today's huge freaking graphic counting down the city's murders for the past 3 years.
Seriously, I've rarely seen a better example of "If it bleeds, it leads" than this. It's not that I don't think the City doesn't have a crime problem, it does & I don't walk around with blinders on; however, I don't understand the point of the story (I'm sorry, of the graphs & map, there is no corresponding story to go with the headline, no analysis) other than to throw out "scary" numbers and convince people in the City they live in a shithole and convince those in the suburbs to stay away. It's fear mongering and sensational.
The other problem I have with this special "multi-media" event is the fact checking...it's apparently non-existent. Here's a perfect example:
Click image to enlarge
A murder that occurred in North St. Louis is labeled as having occurred in the neighborhood of Bevo Mill, a well-known SOUTH SIDE NEIGHBORHOOD. There are multiple instances of incorrectly labeled neighborhoods, I just didn't want to document them all. The Post gives source credit to the SLMPD, still, the Post should have checked some facts. It sort of proves to me that the Post Dispatch is very disconnected from the City in which it "serves" if it can't identify the City's neighborhoods correctly.
Fear mongering and fact checking, my two pet peeves of the day. Oh, I hate STLtoday.com, horrible, just horrible.
I hate today's huge freaking graphic counting down the city's murders for the past 3 years.
Seriously, I've rarely seen a better example of "If it bleeds, it leads" than this. It's not that I don't think the City doesn't have a crime problem, it does & I don't walk around with blinders on; however, I don't understand the point of the story (I'm sorry, of the graphs & map, there is no corresponding story to go with the headline, no analysis) other than to throw out "scary" numbers and convince people in the City they live in a shithole and convince those in the suburbs to stay away. It's fear mongering and sensational.
The other problem I have with this special "multi-media" event is the fact checking...it's apparently non-existent. Here's a perfect example:
Click image to enlarge
A murder that occurred in North St. Louis is labeled as having occurred in the neighborhood of Bevo Mill, a well-known SOUTH SIDE NEIGHBORHOOD. There are multiple instances of incorrectly labeled neighborhoods, I just didn't want to document them all. The Post gives source credit to the SLMPD, still, the Post should have checked some facts. It sort of proves to me that the Post Dispatch is very disconnected from the City in which it "serves" if it can't identify the City's neighborhoods correctly.
Fear mongering and fact checking, my two pet peeves of the day. Oh, I hate STLtoday.com, horrible, just horrible.
A recent trip to Boston made me realize that, as far as St. Louis has come, it has a lot further to go.
Boston is beautiful, and reminded me a lot of what St. Louis could be. I didn't expect the amount of red brick that I saw in Boston. Homes and sidewalks and churches, tons of red brick everywhere. I felt at home. The row houses in Boston are impressive, I wished St. Louis had more of them. I also loved the basement entries that were accessed via stairs from the sidewalks.
I walked from Copley Square to Boston's downtown and what a lovely walk it was. People on the streets, filled storefronts, no vacant lots or huge, empty parking lots, relatively well maintained sidewalks and streets. It was a stark contrast to downtown St. Louis, where if you walk a half mile in the wrong direction you'd be surrounded by vacant buildings and empty lots.
Boston felt like St. Louis' older, cleaner sister. Boston reminded me of what St. Louis could, or should, be. It made me wonder what happened to St. Louis, what choices were made or not made that stymied St. Louis' growth.
I love St. Louis & I hate the whole "compare one place to another" thing, but being exposed to places like Boston, it's hard not to think about when and if St. Louis' potential will ever be realized.
Boston is beautiful, and reminded me a lot of what St. Louis could be. I didn't expect the amount of red brick that I saw in Boston. Homes and sidewalks and churches, tons of red brick everywhere. I felt at home. The row houses in Boston are impressive, I wished St. Louis had more of them. I also loved the basement entries that were accessed via stairs from the sidewalks.
I walked from Copley Square to Boston's downtown and what a lovely walk it was. People on the streets, filled storefronts, no vacant lots or huge, empty parking lots, relatively well maintained sidewalks and streets. It was a stark contrast to downtown St. Louis, where if you walk a half mile in the wrong direction you'd be surrounded by vacant buildings and empty lots.
Boston felt like St. Louis' older, cleaner sister. Boston reminded me of what St. Louis could, or should, be. It made me wonder what happened to St. Louis, what choices were made or not made that stymied St. Louis' growth.
I love St. Louis & I hate the whole "compare one place to another" thing, but being exposed to places like Boston, it's hard not to think about when and if St. Louis' potential will ever be realized.
Below is an old photo of the Grand and Gravois intersection. Basically you're looking south down Grand towards the northeast corner of South Side National Bank and the street scape that used to exist behind the bank. You can see the building at Tholozan and Grand towards the left hand side of the photo.
It's hard to stomach the fact that this wonderful street scape now consists of a bad 80's bank addition and a parking lot. Thankfully, South Side National Bank has survived and is being put to use as condos and retail space.
It's hard to stomach the fact that this wonderful street scape now consists of a bad 80's bank addition and a parking lot. Thankfully, South Side National Bank has survived and is being put to use as condos and retail space.
Is the Kentucky Fried Chicken on South Grand supposed to be that red?